This geopark includes 4 districts of Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Dong Van and Meo Vac with a total natural area of 2,356km2, located in the North of Vietnam with over 70% of exposed limestone area.
This land is a spectacular and unique combination of soaring peaks and deep gorges at the extension of the Eastern Himalayas, with the highest peak – Mac Vac (1,971m) and gorges The deepest – Tu San is also the deepest canyon of Southeast Asia, with a cliff depth of more than 700m.
Dating from the Cambrian period (about 550 million years ago), up to now, Dong Van Karst Plateau has undergone 7 different geological periods. Visitors here can see firsthand the traces left in the paleontological, stratigraphic, geomorphological, tectonic, karst, cave, and important faults.
These “traces" also reflect two of the five major events in Earth’s biogeographic history that are boundaries of mass extinction. In particular, the Late Devonian Event occurred at the Frasnian-Famennian boundary, about 364 million years ago, causing the extinction of 19% of the paleontological families and 50% of the paleontological genera, and the Permian-Triassic Event occurred. 251 million years ago, was the largest event of the 5 events of the living world, causing the extinction of about 90% of marine species and species.
If you are interested in geology, you will find it very interesting to observe the three groups of sedimentary rocks, igneous rocks, and metamorphic rocks, as well as the stratigraphic, lithologic, and biostratigraphic features.
For paleontologists, each limestone cliff still records fossils of 19 valuable groups of ancient creatures such as ancient fish, ancient flora, eurispirifer tonkinesis, two shellfish, foraminifera, corals, conodonta, crinoidea and molluscs. All recreate an ancient story about an ancient period of the earth.